A Rosey Collection
by xxfalling.failingxx
Summary: A collection of stories revolving around Rosethistle, my cat made in Cats Among Rubble, a forum made by ShinySilverOwl001.


A red tortoiseshell lay in her nest, asleep but not relaxed. Her teeth were clamped together, her claws digging deeper and deeper into the earth every second. Her pelt was moist and sweaty, and her shoulders were tight. She was slowly but surely curling into a small ball. Finally her pinkish-red eyes shot open, and she jumped up into the air, her fur bristling and panting heavily.

"Rosethistle, are you okay?" a voice asked. Rosethistle jumped again and turned to where the voice had come from. She saw two purple eyes staring back at her. Rosethistle licked her chest fur and forced her pelt to lie flat.

"I didn't see you there." she said as calmly as she could. The black she-cat blended into the shadows of the den.

"Alright, but are you okay?" the she-cat asked again, flicking her tail back and forth impatiently.

"Yes. Horrible dream, though." Rosethistle sniffed, settling back down in her nest.

"Care to tell me about it?"

"Well..." Rosethistle said shyly. "If you're willing to listen." Shadowsky curled her tail around her paws and stared at the tortoiseshell expectantly.

"I got bitten by a snake, that's all." Rosethistle told her friend. Shadowsky blinked.

"I mean, I should've been expecting it, really," Rosethistle continued. "I watched another cat get bit and I was just like 'Oh. She got bit.'"

"Who was the cat that got bit first?" Shadowsky asked, gazing at the tortoiseshell with an interest in what she was saying.

"Oh, well..." Rosethistle licked her chest fur again, this time out of embarrassment. She didn't want to tell Shadowsky that _she_ was the one who got bit first. "I can't remember."

"Then the snake bit you, right?" Shadowsky prompted, her purple orbs watching Rosethistle's tail flick back and forth. The tortoiseshell nodded.

"It suddenly shot out at me and that's when I woke up." she finished. Shadowsky's jaws opened to say something, but she was interrupted by Rubblestar's call.

"Rosethistle! Please come here!" Rosethistle nodded to Shadowsky and got up from her nest, stretching and exiting the den.

"You called me, Rubblestar?" she asked, warily eying her leader. She sometimes scared Rosethistle unintentionally. Rubblestar turned her gaze to the tortie.

"Yes, I'd like you to take a hunting patrol today." the gray she-cat told Rosethistle. "Take anyone you'd like, but I'm asking you to bring an apprentice." Rosethistle nodded, looking around camp for a friend to take. He gaze stopped on a ginger-brown she-cat who was lying in the sun.

"Wrensong!" the tortoiseshell called. Wrensong didn't move, but turned her amber slits to the she-cat. "You up for a hunting patrol?" Rosethistle prompted, padding over to her friend. Wrensong grumbled something under her breath but got up to hunt with Rosethistle.

"Can I come?" A dark gray apprentice bounded over to the two. She had metallic-looking blue eyes that were a little creepy if you looked at them closely.

"Sure, Steelpaw!" Rosethistle purred. She looked around the camp. "Do you think we need one more cat, or...?" she asked sheepishly, turning to Wrensong, hoping to get her opinion on her question.

"I think we're fine." Wrensong answered plainly. "If we bring too many, we'll scare away all the prey." Rosethistle nodded firmly and started off towards the forest, assuming that her small patrol was behind her.

"Should we split up, or...?" Rosethistle asked uneasily. Wrensong chuckled.

"You should have more self-confidence." she laughed and trotted away through some thick grass. Rosethistle turned to Steelpaw.

"I guess we're splitting up. Be careful." she warned. The apprentice nodded and dashed off through the brush. Rosethistle lifted her head to the sky, parting her jaws and tasting the air.

" _Nothing here._ " she thought. " _I guess I'll head towards the river._ " Rosethistle sighed and ducked her head, looking down as she started through the forest of low branches. Her long narwhal horn always knocked against the tree limbs, creating a shower of leaves around her and getting stuck in her thick fur. More often than not, a caterpillar would be munching on the leaves, and then the disgusting insect would land on the tortoiseshell. Rosethistle was terrified of bugs, which made her a little afraid of her clanmates that had insect mandibles or antennae.

Looking up from the ground, Rosethistle saw that she had reached the river. She let out a sigh of relief. Rosethistle was most comfortable around water, as it was how she had received her narwhal horn in the first place. The tortoiseshell parted her jaws once more, tasting the air again. All she could smell was fish. Rosethistle shrugged, jumping to a large rock in the middle of the river. She flopped over on her side, taking in the sun's rays. She let her tail droop into the water. Though she didn't have a fish tail yet, she still enjoyed feeling both the sun's heat and the water's coolness.

Rosethistle's relaxation was ripped away from her as she felt something bite down on her tail. She shrieked then slapped her paw over her mouth, not wishing to alert those on her patrol. Narrowing her pinkish-red eyes to slits, she carefully lifted her tail into the air, glaring at a large purple-blue fish that was clamped down on her tail. She realized with a start that this was no ordinary fish- this one had teeth. Rosethistle grumbled something under hew breath and shook her tail, letting the fish flop back into the water.

She closed her eyes and tried to relax again, this time keeping her tail on the hot rock. She slowly found herself falling asleep.

" _Mmmmm, this feels so good..._ " she thought, smiling to herself. " _I bet Rubblestar-_ " Rosethistle quickly sat up. If Rubblestar was to catch her dozing off instead of hunting, she'd never hear the end of it. She yawned, gazing down into the water.

" _Maybe I could just take a quick nap!_ " Rosethistle lay back down on the rock. Just as she was about to fall into a deep slumber a large fish jumped over the rock, splashing water all over the tortoiseshell. She shrieked then slapped her tail over her mouth.

" _I need to stop doing that!_ " she thought angrily to herself, turning to glare down at the fish who splashed her. It was the same purple-blue fish with teeth that had bothered her earlier.

"Why can't you leave me alone?" she snapped, glaring at the fish with narrowed eyes. The fish jumped up onto the rock Rosethistle was lounging on. Rosethistle, startled, stared down at the fish and made no sound as it chomped down on her paw with teeth like daggers.

"What _are_ you?" she asked bewilderedly, watching the fish chomp her paw over and over again. "And why aren't you dead yet?!" The fish seemed to be breathing normal air like land animals would. She realized with a start that the fish had been mutated like she had, swimming in the river filled to the brim with radiation.

"You're a piranha." Rosethistle said, blinking at the fish who had stopped biting her. She didn't know how she knew that; she just had that feeling in her chest that 'piranha' was what the fish was and that they had something in common.

"Hey, how about you come back to camp with me?" Rosethistle asked the fish, tilting her head down at him. He chomped on her paw.

"Great!" Rosethistle exclaimed, smiling at the purple-blue fish. An idea passed through her head. "How would you like to be called 'Mastegar'?" she asked. The piranha bit her paw again. Rosethistle closed her eyes, smiling.

"Come on, Mastegar, I'll show you to camp!"


End file.
